Michael Lee Amesbury (born 7 May 1969) is a British politician serving as an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Runcorn and Helsby (previously Weaver Vale), since 2017. Formerly a member of the Labour Party, he was suspended in October 2024 and resigned his party membership in January 2025.
In January 2025 Amesbury pleaded guilty to common assault. He was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison. On appeal, his prison sentence was upheld, but suspended for two years.
Amesbury worked as a careers advisor in Birmingham after receiving his postgraduate degree.[2] He became an officer for the North West Labour Party from 1999 until 2003, when returned to careers advice as a manager at Connexions.
Amesbury was first elected to Manchester City Council in 2006, defeating the incumbent Liberal Democrat councillor in Fallowfield.[4] He served as the Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure from 2008 to 2012.[5] He was a member of Labour's National Policy Forum from 2010 to 2015. He resigned as a councillor following his election to Parliament in 2017.[6]
In 2019, Amesbury apologised 'unreservedly' for having shared an antisemitic caricature on Facebook in 2013.[9] He claimed that he didn't recall sharing the post but was 'mortified' and wouldn't have done so intentionally.
Second term (2019–2024)
At the 2019 general election, he was re-elected to represent Weaver Vale with a reduced majority of 562 votes over the Conservative candidate.
In February 2020, Amesbury introduced a private member's bill to reduce the cost of school uniforms; the bill was passed as the Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act 2021.[10]
In July 2023, a 56-year-old man was convicted of stalking and harassing Amesbury; the offences took place from June to August 2022, and his sentence included a restraining order.[15][16]
Following his election, Amesbury returned to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and joined the Modernisation Committee.
Assault conviction
At about 2:15 am on 26 October 2024, Amesbury was recorded by CCTV, in Frodsham, appearing to punch a man to the ground.[19][20] Amesbury shouted: "You won't threaten the MP ever again, will you?" Cheshire Police stated that an assault had been reported and that no arrests had been made.[21] The CCTV footage, subsequently released to the public, showed Amesbury directing more punches as the man lay prone on the ground.[22] Bystanders intervened to restrain Amesbury.[20]
Pending an investigation into the incident, the Labour Party administratively suspended Amesbury's party membership and parliamentary whip.[23][22] Witnesses later said that the man had initially engaged Amesbury in a conversation about a local bridge which would be closed during winter, before the men's interactions became "heated".[20][24] On 7 November 2024, Amesbury was charged with common assault and summoned to appear in court.[25][26][27] On 16 January, he pleaded guilty and subsequently resigned from the Labour Party.[28]
On 24 February 2025 at Chester Magistrates' Court, Amesbury was sentenced to 10 weeks imprisonment, and was sent to HMP Altcourse.[29] He was due to serve 40 per cent of his sentence in prison, with the rest spent on licence. The custodial sentence would have triggered a recall petition under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, unless the sentence was sufficiently reduced to a non-custodial sentence, or he resigned.[30] Public discussion arose regarding the fact that Amesbury would continue to be paid his MP's salary while in custody.[31][32]
On 27 February, at Chester Crown Court, Amesbury appealed his sentence before His Honour Judge Steven Everett and two lay magistrates. The original sentence of 10 weeks was upheld by the judge as being "spot on", but was suspended for two years. Amesbury was also ordered to attend 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days, principally surrounding anger management, with the judge noting that "[Amesbury] is not somebody who has complete control of [his] anger management issues". Amesbury was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and submit to an Alcohol Monitoring Requirement for a period of 12 months.[33]
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